Chapter 12
Chapter 12
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: The Usefulness of a Treacherous Subject
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While Beonald was briefly lost in thought, maintaining the standoff, Sir Encia quietly spoke to Sir Galson, who was enduring the pain as he tried to staunch his bleeding.
"Sir Galson, you must flee. I am not on a level to contend with this person."
"Grrrgh! But where am I to flee to?"
"Your legs are fine, are they not? I will charge him head-on. Use that moment to slip away to the side."
"Will that... work? On the contrary, it feels like I'd die trying... Just where did such a monster come from all of a sudden? That oppressive presence is on the level of a high-ranking knight..."
"I don't know either. He's not the kind of talent that should be in a place like this... In any case, we must inform the Viscount of this fact."
Both Sir Galson and Sir Encia were equally astonished by the unknown knight who had appeared before them.
If he was at the level of a high-ranking knight, the high nobles and the Imperial family would never leave him be.
Even low-ranking knights were combat assets of a different dimension, and mid- and high-ranking knights were levels that could shift the tide of a battlefield.
'Hmm, the old man next to her is one thing, but it'd be a waste to kill this lady knight~ Hmm~'
As a philanderer who had managed numerous wives, concubines, and slaves in his past life, and who still retained the tendency to want to collect rare things whenever he saw them, Beonald was conflicted as he looked at Sir Encia.
The original plan was to simply kill them all and silence them, but seeing something rare stirred his heart.
'Her looks aren't bad at all either, and she has that simple, unadorned charm that makes me want to have her... Hmm~ Should I at least make an offer?'
"I'm going! Sir Galson! May fortune favor you!"
"Understood!"
Sir Encia launched her body forward first, and Beonald, to meet her, similarly drew up his aura and charged.
Beonald noticed Sir Galson following closely behind her almost simultaneously and immediately grasped their obvious scheme.
'A transparent ploy... You'd only fall for that if the difference in skill was a bit smaller. The attack becomes too obvious because your focus is split in two from the start.'
Of course, the difference in skill also made Sir Encia's attack visible, but the bigger problem was that her attack was too large and obvious because her attention was diverted to Sir Galson following behind.
Even if their strategy was divided, once they entered combat, they should have focused on it. Their failure to do so was their mistake.
"Ghk...!"
"Got you."
Thud!
Therefore, a single motion was enough for Beonald.
He thrust the hilt of his sword into Sir Encia's chest to push her away, then twisted his body to bring his blade down on the neck of Sir Galson, who was trying to slip past to the side.
Swordplay as fluid and clean as flowing water. Sir Galson, who had focused all his nerves on fleeing, had his head separated from his body and rolled across the ground. Sir Encia, pushed back, regained her stance, but the situation was already as good as over.
"Now it's one-on-one, isn't it? Anyway... will you continue? How about surrendering first?"
"I refuse. One who has become a knight must, at the very least, protect their lord's honor..."
"Then, if I make it so you can protect your lord's honor, will you surrender? Though a knight sneaking in at night to assassinate someone is an act that tarnishes honor in itself, but that's fine as long as no one finds out~"
"What are you thinking?"
"I want you."
Beonald said to Sir Encia with a face showing not a hint of shame or hesitation.
She stepped back, seemingly flustered and surprised, but Beonald smiled as if enjoying himself.
It was the first opportunity in a very long time to enjoy his 'hobby.'
"Are you in your right mind?"
"Perfectly sane. You're a talent too good to kill, and you're still young... You wouldn't want to die here, tarnishing your honor with assassination, would you? A knight should fight on a battlefield where justice crosses, staking their beliefs, and die honorably. Or would you rather roll on the ground as a corpse like that one?"
"..."
Sir Encia looked at the corpse of Sir Galson, sprawled on the street with his neck and right arm severed.
A lifeless body. Clearly, the man before her could make her the same if he wished.
The fear of death, the honor and pride of a knight, and the retaliation of Viscount Delmain swirled in her mind, making it difficult to make a quick decision.
"If you need to think about it, you can give your approval later... However, you'd have to endure a few days of confinement. If you still refuse after that, I'll let you leave quietly and secretly. How about it? Or will you become a corpse here and now, with no honor?"
"...I refuse."
"I see. That's a shame."
With those words, a purple flash sliced through Sir Encia's neck, and her body remained standing as her head rolled to the ground.
It was a shame, but he didn't like breaking the other's will or trampling their character to force submission.
A hobby should remain just a hobby to be beautiful. Moreover, thanks to his father from his past life, Felix, who had shown such vulgar behavior regarding women, he had learned the virtue of restraint.
"...Now comes the real problem."
The fight ended easily, but the real work began now.
Gathering and disposing of the dead bodies wasn't too difficult; the real problem was cleaning up the bloodstains.
The ones outside the mansion could be solved by simply turning over the soil, but the bloodstains deeply embedded in the floor from the corpses killed at the main gate and in front of his training room were problematic.
"Damn it! If only I had alchemy equipment, I could solve it with chemicals! Damn it! This wretched backwater village!"
Frustrated at being unable to utilize his specialty, Beonald had no choice but to use a cumbersome method.
However, he collected all the armor, weapons, and money they were carrying and hid them in the secret space he had created within his training room. Since he couldn't perfectly remove all the bloodstains, he staged it as if bandits, not the soldiers who came with them, had unlawfully invaded the mansion. The remaining bodies were taken far away and buried.
'Doing this alone is too much work. Damn it!'
Disposing of a total of 17 bodies—or 13 if you subtract the four bandits—was no ordinary task.
Moreover, in the case of the bandits, since they were ones who had been captured before, he had to change their identities by dressing them in the clothes of soldiers who hadn't come to the territory, which was doubly annoying.
But if he didn't do this, he couldn't deceive his parents, so Beonald suppressed his irritation and kept moving.
'Practicing the Mana Breathing Method... I really did the right thing.'
If he hadn't practiced the Mana Breathing Method since infancy, he would have been struggling even after sunrise, unable to finish everything. But because he had, he completed the cleanup in an instant.
Leaving the staged bandit corpses behind, Beonald, with his face covered, headed toward Sir Geral's territory, carrying the heads of Sir Geral, Sir Galson, and Sir Encia, along with a few of their belongings.
'I should at least return what needs to be returned. If they go missing, they'll start searching all over the place and unnecessarily stir up this territory.'
"Who goes there? Halt immediately and state your identity!"
"I came to return something. Take it. It's your master."
"Th-this is...? Sir Geral's? And this is...? The knights from Viscount Delmain's side... S-Sir Encia and Sir Galson? W-wait! Stop there! Halt!"
After handing the heads and belongings to a soldier on night duty at Sir Geral's mansion, Beonald slipped away from the spot like the wind.
Now, all the commotion would be directed toward this territory.
Rather than a brief visit by bandits, the real issue would be who would seize this 'territory' of Sir Geral, who had lost its family head and, as a knight family, its heir. The power struggle among landless knights would begin anew.
'Now I just need to go back and finish cleaning up the mansion.'
Beonald returned, satisfied.
And as soon as the morning sun rose, he showed the servants he had temporarily sent outside the mansion the bandit corpses he had deliberately left behind, making them understand the reason he had sent them away.
"I-Indeed, Young Master. We failed to realize that. But if you had told us beforehand..."
"I simply didn't want to create unnecessary sacrifices. Especially after being harassed by bandits not long ago. Anyway, clean up the scene quickly."
"Yes, Young Master! But did you handle all of these yourself, Young Master?"
"I've been swinging a sword for five years straight; I should be able to do at least this much. Anyway, hurry up and clean up."
In the end, the servants moved in perfect unison at Beonald's words and began properly cleaning up the scene. Beonald spent the time until his parents returned organizing the spoils he had obtained the previous night.
He had handed over the personal items, but in Sir Geral's case, he only gave the family seal, and for the other two, only parts of their armor. So, the amount of weaponry and belongings from 17 people was quite substantial.
'I'll have to secretly go to another territory to sell these later.'
Selling all the iron weapons, the chainmail armor worn by the soldiers, and the plate armor worn by the two knights would fetch a decent price.
If he could melt them down into iron ingots, he could sell them with peace of mind, but since there wasn't even a blacksmith here, he had to take them whole. To avoid the origin of the armor being discovered, he would have to go to another territory where the influence of the Callermain Earldom didn't reach.
'I'll think about that later... For now, let me get some sleep and then greet my parents.'
Having fought and run all night, Beonald was somewhat tired, so he decided to get some sleep.
Later, when the sun passed noon and it was afternoon, Beonald's parents, who had urgently left for the Callermain territory yesterday, returned.
The two were shocked to hear the news that bandits had entered the mansion and that Beonald had dealt with them.
"You dealt with these bandits? Damn bastards! While we were at the Callermain territory...!"
"Yes. But fortunately, I evacuated the servants and defeated them one by one as they entered."
"Good heavens! Hah! But even so, to do such a reckless thing!"
"If Father is not here, I am the master of this territory. If I don't protect it, the people will suffer. Isn't this why I've honed my sword for five years? It is the duty of a noble."
The kind and simple Baron Leon, faced with Beonald's confident words, could no longer argue and trusted him 100%, letting the matter go.
However, with his mother—the one who had lied to send Baron Leon away for his safety—he had to explain the truth once more, honestly, in the office.
"...Sir Geral, and even Sir Galson and Sir Encia, who were under Viscount Delmain, came?"
"Yes. And it seems the bandits who were pillaging our territory were also Sir Geral's subordinates."
"Good heavens...!"
Shocked by the truth that three low-ranking knights had come to kill them following the bandits, Beonald's mother was utterly dismayed.
They had been living quietly in this territory with nothing to covet, so she had never imagined an attack would come from outside.
"It seems I was too complacent. Hoo~ I must take measures immediately, even tomorrow."
'That's right. This is the normal reaction.'
'More than that... Is it because I take after Grandfather that I feel nothing after killing?'
An ordinary person would find it abnormal for a ten-year-old to have committed such slaughter, but Beonald's mother, having seen her own father, Count Callermain, display cruelty and mercilessness since childhood, didn't find it strange, perhaps thinking he had inherited his blood.
Of course, if Beonald knew this, he would have retorted that he was over 500 years ahead, but since he couldn't know her thoughts, he let it pass.
Then, Beonald's mother asked him another question.
"Hoo~ But Beonald, when did you... awaken that 'mana'?"
"Not long ago. No, I had already awakened it, but I only became aware of it after you told me about it, Mother."
"I see. To think, Beonald... you would be a natural-born knight."
'Saying I learned it in a past life would just complicate the story, so I'll let that slide. Besides, the moment they know that, I might cease to be their child and become a stranger...'
He was Beonald von Neumel, but now he was also Beonald Dustycloak.
As nobles, he wouldn't give a good evaluation to the parents who raised him with kindness and affection, but as a human and a child, he thoroughly felt they were good parents.
That was precisely why he had fought all night, running around to protect them.
"It seems... the Goddess has bestowed a tremendous gift upon you."
"Perhaps it was bestowed upon you, my parents."
Beonald answered his mother's words glibly, thinking of the Goddess who had sent him here. He promised her to keep this matter a secret and vowed to consult with her if anything happened in the future.
And what Beonald felt he had gained from this incident was the right to speak confidently about family matters, even though he was only ten years old.